


It's Not Tonight (Where I'm Set Alight)

by TheSinsOfAnAngel



Series: After The Fact [1]
Category: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
Genre: Angst, Anyways, Chess, Chess in Concert (2008), Dialogue Heavy, Is this fandom even alive?, Kennedy Center Chess (2018), M/M, Oh wait, Pre-Relationship, anatoly is confused, and I love it, and then this musical jumped into my life, au where anatoly moves to america in hopes of running into freddie, btw it's not mentioned but he's divorced, freddie is very patient, hoo boy, idk what else to tag this as, it's short but it's mostly a muse anyways, no beta we die like men, so i wasn't planning on ever posting a fic again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 01:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19842583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSinsOfAnAngel/pseuds/TheSinsOfAnAngel
Summary: “Do you love me?” And, well, that was not how he saw this conversation going.“I might.”-------OR: the one where Anatoly can't tell where they stand, until he does.





	It's Not Tonight (Where I'm Set Alight)

At some point after the U.S.S.R fell apart _ (as graceless as it’s 74 year tenure) _ Anatoly Sergievsky made his way to America. 

Silent, and without pomp or press coverage, he settled down somewhere in North Dakota. It was cold, and lonely, and  _ so much like home it hurt.  _ While he didn’t really want to go back home any time soon, Anatoly couldn’t shake the feeling that living somewhere unbearably hot would push his mind to reconsider his decision. He was stuck living in a place that reminded him of everything he left behind, in more ways than one. 

Somehow,  _ (though really, he should have known that it was going to happen, it always does)  _ his loud-mouth neighbor revealed himself to be the very man he hoped to not run into. Later, Anatoly would swear Freddie was looking for him, something the other would vehemently deny.

Their relationship was strained, as to be expected. The longing for something familiar had driven them together, but their words never stopped biting at the others heels. They were certainly not friends, but definitely not enemies either. It was as if they had known each other their whole lives, but only got to learn the mundane details now. 

Freddies favourite colour is orange, Anatoly recalls blithely. It’s the colour of the mug Anatoly can find wedged beside his in the cupboard. Among the other items Freddie has left in the others house is a clearly new chess set. Anatoly didn’t want to ask if he had bought it just for him, he couldn’t open that can of worms just yet. 

Winters were biting. On the worst days, two dethroned kings would sit in one or the others castle, usually Anatoly’s, usually with the chess board between them, though the game would rarely result in anything. 

What was most likely to occur was a verbal game. Neither man was very good at expressing their feelings, so they had to drag confessions out of the other as slow as a complicated play. Lines blurring along with the flurries outside. The game was formulaic: Freddie would ask insensitive questions, Anatoly would get fed up, they would end in a stalemate, one of them would storm out, rinse, repeat. 

Anatoly didn’t understand quite what was different this time around, but he knew Freddie was not himself. 

The game went like this:

“Do you miss home?”

“Sometimes. Check.” 

“Do you miss your wife?”

“Not particularly.”

“Would you go back if she asked?”

“I’d go back even if she didn’t ask.”

“So you do miss it.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

“But the implication was there.”

“I think your time on TV has weakened your listening skills.”

The conversation lulls, Freddie suddenly very warm as he tries to forget his brief stint with Global TV. 

“Do you love her?”

“Freddie, I don’t think about my wife. At all.” 

“And Florence?”

“What about her?”

“Do you think about her?”

A beat. “It’s your turn.”

The wind finds its way under the door and Anatoly shivers. The cold is another reminder of the life he left behind, and Freddie tries another angle. 

“Did you ever love her?”

“Florence or Svetlana?”

“Either. Anyone.”

“I think I did, at some point. I was preoccupied.”

“But you aren’t now.” 

“I suppose not”

Freddie stops again and plays with his queen. He’s nervous about something but Anatoly didn’t push. He wanted to see where this went.

“Do you love me?” And, well,  _ that  _ was not how he saw this conversation going. 

“I might.”  _ Obviously I do, why else would I be here? _

“Checkmate.”

Anatoly blinks. He wasn’t even focused on the game, and he assumed Freddie wasn’t either. Nonetheless, his king was trapped.

Freddie started to put the pieces away, leaving the king for last. He was waiting for an answer but the words weren’t forming and Anatoly was as helpless as his pawn. 

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

Freddie’s laugh is sharp, but relieved.

“Your confession or the game?”

“I didn’t confess anything, and you only won because I was distracted.”

“Do you find me distracting, Anatoly?” His smile was nothing short of  _ smarmy. _

“I’m not answering any more questions.”  _ You’re distracting even when I can’t see you. _

Anatoly stretches his legs as Freddie puts on his coat. The walk to his house wasn’t long but the snow was bitter enough to leave marks; better safe than sorry. 

“Will I be seeing you tomorrow?”

“What did I say about questions?”

The laugh this time is soft, domestic. Anatoly feels as if it’s a laugh only for him.

“Goodnight, Tolya. And for the record, I find you distracting as well.”

Freddie leaves a hole in the doorway and an anchor tied to Anatoly’s heart.

_ (He sees right through you.) _

The game wasn’t formulaic at all, Anatoly realized while laying in bed. It actually went like this: Freddie would ask pointed questions, Anatoly wouldn’t take the hint, Freddie would leave, rinse, repeat. 

Anatoly realized one more thing before drifting off. If they weren’t friends, and they weren’t enemies, what were they? 

_ (Home.) _

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall, i've never written for this fandom before but i love the characters so much and then this happened.  
> it's like midnight, im so tired.  
> ANYWAYS i hope this was decent.


End file.
